Gallant

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I really don't know what the point was of the plot. The story itself was not special or something I will remember. Not a lot happens in this book. Overall, Gallant was an enchanting fantasy read that would appeal to adults as well as YA readers. The elegant writing is enough to capture your senses. The audiobook narration was also pretty good, and this would be a great starting point if you are new to audiobooks. But one day, out of the blue, she receives a letter from an uncle she never knew she had, asking her to come home to Gallant, where she is wanted and loved. Gallant. The one place her mother warned her never to go in the only letter she wrote her infant daughter. Do you know how how frustrating it is to read 90% of a great story? Victoria Schwab’s writing is just so damn engrossing—she gets her hooks into you all she needs is to give a slight yank and I’ll come running. When she gets a story right it’s absolutely right. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Vicious immediately come to mind. The writing and the characters are always consistently good from her, and the plot of those two is perfectly constructed. It’s just some of her books are missing something to make that perfect whole. All the ingredients are there, but it still doesn’t feel one hundred percent fully formed. I can’t even say what that extra 10% is or where is should go, just that it’s MIA.

The only thing Olivia is interested in is that she can see the dead who linger after life, half-formed ghouls of vague description. But not even her ability to see the long gone is enough to provide meaning. That comes in the form of a letter from a long-lost uncle, inviting Olivia to come to their family home known as Gallant. It is here that the novel shifts into gear, as Olivia is whisked away to an old, sprawling estate with a surly, older cousin, a legacy she barely understands, and a suspicious stone wall hiding an iron gate, the other side of which cannot be seen. But there are lower powers, stranger ones, and there in the dark, behind the door, she prays to them. Olivia's drive to have a family is stronger than her trepidation, however, and what she finds at Gallant is nothing like she'd ever imagined. Representation: Olivia is mute, uses sign language, and is implied to be asexual and aromantic; Matthew is implied to be dyslexic This book really is the definition of pretty writing, bland story. Like sure the writing was very descriptive and fancy but??? I was bored out of mind?? I could care less about the characters, story, plot (haha what plot) and everything else. I don't care if you have the most beautiful writing in the world. If the story doesn't capture my attention, then I don't like it.Gallant doesn't have a rich plot, but it does have well-developed characters. Oliva Prior, a non-verbal teen is trapped and abandoned in an orphanage after the death of her mother. She has no one, or that is what she has been told. When she receives a peculiar letter from a long lost relative telling her to come to live with them, Olivia is perplexed but also relieved. Finally, she gets to have a family, someone who will love her. The plot is slow for the larger part of the book but I personally don’t mind that as long as the main character is fully developed and intriguing (which Olivia is). Olivia Prior captured my heart and soul and I really love that even though she was mute, she still found a way to communicate with everyone around her. She didn’t just feel like words on paper and V.E. accomplishes that every time with her protagonists. The side characters (especially Matthew <3) were equally amazing, although I do wish we had more information about Hannah and Edgar. Anyway, I’d describe the plot as The Secret Garden meets The Haunting of Hill House/ Bly Manor , so if you like either of those, I highly reccomend Gallant. Gallant is about Olivia Prior, who has grown up in Merilance School for girls. All Olivia has of her past is her mother’s journal—which seems to unravel into madness. When she gets a letter from her uncle inviting her to Gallant, she can't help but accept. Yet when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. But Olivia is not about to leave the first place that feels like home, it doesn’t matter if her cousin Matthew is hostile or if she sees half-formed ghouls haunting the hallways. Olivia knows that Gallant is hiding secrets, which she is determined to find out. Given that up till this day, it took me ages to finish The Invisible Life of Addie Larue for how boring and repetitive it is, it’s a surprise that I find myself enjoying this one!

Also, BIG shout out to Manuel Šumberac, the illustrator, because the illustrations were absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Seriously, I think this may be the prettiest book I own and that’s completely fine with me. I'm also not sure who exactly the target audience and age group for this book was either. It is marketed as adult, but it reads like middle grade. A girl. A boy. A shadow with eyes. A door that won’t open. A place and its copy. Hidden rooms and hidden secrets. A shard of bone. And death itself.Everything casts a shadow. Even the world we live in. And as with every shadow, there is a place where it must touch. A seam, where the shadow meets its source. I also enjoyed the unique character that Oliva is and appreciate that Schwab didn't end up relying on the old stereotypes and tropes that frankly everyone is tired of seeing from a mute character. In fact, the absence of Olivia's voice will force you to hunt for answers outside the characters. It keeps the visual aspects of things in Gallant going strong.